With a drained X-Man inching closer to death, what will the New Mutants do with an angry Sugar Man and a team of mutates stand in their way?
The Good
The book is much better than last month's, which I had a bit of a problem with. Thankfully, Abnett managed to keep the Sugar Man-centric storyline a bit more contained than it was last time, and as a result the story flowed a lot better.
This issue really had Dani Moonstar out in the forefront, which I can appreciate; with Cannonball out of the mix, we need someone who can lead as well as he can, and Dani is a great candidate. Showing what a non-powered fighter can do against a huge physical threat is one way to establish credibility, and Abnett did that quite well.
I really liked Scott Summers' "briefing" where the New X-Men and New Mutants get a run-down of major threats to mutantkind. This makes a lot of sense, tactically, as the race isn't doing too hot at the moment, and need to look after their own. It also serves to keep readers up-to-date on who exactly Sugar Man is, as not everyone has read Age of Apocalypse.
The ending moments with Cyclops and Nate Grey warmed my heart, but I wasn't sure if Cyke was just feeling a bit guilty concerning the recent death of Cable. We'll have to see where this goes from here.
The Bad
Having Steve Rogers come in at the end and give the Mutants a pat on the back just seemed a bit contrived. I felt there needed to be a much more concrete resolution than a "take him away, boys!" moment, and just letting everyone go their separate ways underwhelmed me.
Nate Grey being depowered just seemed like a way to make him fit into the regular New Mutants rotation, and to keep him from being too much of a messiah compared to Hope. I mean, I never thought there'd be a time when there was too many Omega-level mutants, but I guess that X-Man needed to get thrown under the bus sometime.
The Verdict
This issue was a good redemption for the mediocrity that was last month, and kept me interested in the story lines to come. I was actually kind of afraid that this would be the start of a decline in quality; thankfully, that isn't the case.